For this weeks’ podcast, Paul spoke to Vickie Hawkins, the executive director of Medecins sans Frontieres UK (MSF). Like us, MSF is fighting to provide critical support in Bangladesh. In a fascinating conversation about ethics, values and the importance of humanity as the most powerful force for good and change, Paul and Vickie discuss the difficulty of making huge decisions with finite resources, and the pressure of prioritizing aid when so much is needed.

For this weeks’ podcast, we talked to Refugee Support co-founder, John Sloan, about how to get started in an enormous humanitarian crisis. John and Paul founded Refugee Support two years’ ago, and have started out more than once in chaos with little more than a dream to offer aid with dignity. Having just returned from two weeks in Bangladesh, getting started with a brilliant team to offer aid to Tumbru Camp, John shares his insight into what it’s like to face crisis with a cool head, but a...

Abdul-Salam’s family had to escape from Deir ez-Zur after ISIL laid seige to it and made life impossible. He describes what that was like and the perilous, life-threatening journey they made. Despite these horrors, this family is still cheerful, optimistic and proud. Their resilience is inspirational. “Our request is not impossible. We want medical care and education. We want peace, security and stability. Like other people. And we want to go back to Syria and to live in peace.”

John Sloan talks to Daniel Mendies about his journey into humanitarian work from Nepal to Afghanistan to Greece to Bangladesh. It is in the genes and he started young! Daniel is pivotal to our work supporting the Rohingya in Bangladesh so talks about why aid with dignity and co-operation is so important. We also learn about the importance of holding your head high!